1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved cooking apparatus using a burner fired with propane, butane or the like wherein a primary burner frame includes upper and lower parallel rings connected by struts and can be supported upon the bottom ring as a base in a lowermost cooking position for carrying very large pots, or alternatively in an elevated position for cooking in small pots such as when frying food in hot oil.
2. General Background
There are several commercially available cooking devices such as camp stoves, outdoor cookers, barbecue grills and the like which are fueled with a source of butane, propane or the like. This fuel is normally carried in a canister such as a disposable, commercially available canisters or in a five-ten (5-10) gallon permanent style canisters that can be refilled. Normally, such canisters are used with a regulator for controlling the pressure and flow rate of butane/propane from the canister.
Small cooking utensils such as camp stoves can be used on any type of surface because their weight is rather small and because they typically are used to hold very small cooking utensils and vessels such as small pots and skillets for example.
In the cooking of large amounts of seafood such as crabs, shrimp, crawfish, and the like very large pots are often used such as for example pots capable of containing one hundred (100) quarts of liquid. Pots of this size constitute a significant hazard when filled with fluid especially after this fluid has been heated to boiling temperatures of two hundred twelve (212) degrees .degree.F. Typically, these large volume pots are used only when the burner is relatively short, such as for example twelve to eighteen (12-18) inches in overall height. Further, these shorter burners typically have a very broad base for preventing tipping.
When small quantities of food are to be fried in oil, a very small pot such as for example a five to ten (5-10) quart pot can be used rather than the eighty to one hundred (80-100) quart pots used for cooking large batches of shrimp, crabs and crawfish.
In the cooking of fried foods, small amounts of food are cooked at a time, and the turn over is usually fast. The food must be repeatedly added to and removed from the hot oil such as for example a new batch every four or five (4-5) minutes. Thus, it is desirable to elevate the burner apparatus to the approximate waist level so that a user is not required to continuously bend over during the cooking operation. However, this difference in cooking procedures usually dictates that the user buy two separate burners, including a smaller but structurally more desirable low level burner for cooking large volumes of seafood and a second burner for elevating the cooking vessel to a level of about thirty (30) inches above the ground for cooking fried seafood.
It has been common in the art to use outdoor cookers which are supplied by butane, propane and the like via a high pressure regulator, LP hose, and similar sources of fuel. Elevating such devices on legs in a permanent fashion has been done. It is an object of the present invention however to provide a convertible outdoor cooker apparatus that can be fired by butane, propane or the like as contained in canisters wherein removable legs can support the device in an elevated position such as on the order of thirty-thirty six inches (30"-36") above ground level if food is to be fried at an elevated position. The apparatus converts for use as a much more structural rigid base at a lower elevation when cooking in very large pots of the one hundred (100) quart capacity for example.